Quotes Uncovered: Death and Taxes - Freakonomics Freakonomics Quotes Uncovered: Death and Taxes February 17, 2011 @ 1:30pm I’m back to inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations , and my more recent research. Ewout asked: Who was the first to say these famous words: “Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.” Some sources mention Ben Franklin, others say Mark Twain or Daniel Defoe. Thanks! This is usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, who wrote in a 1789 letter that “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” However, The Yale Book of Quotations quotes “‘Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes,” from Christopher Bullock, The Cobler of Preston (1716). The YBQ also quotes “Death and Taxes, they are certain,” from Edward Ward, The Dancing Devils (1724).

Do any readers have any other quotations whose origins they would like me to attempt to trace? Ben Ramsey February 17, 2011 @ 6:47pm Where does the quote "A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero but only one" come from? Sam Adams sounds like Tennyson to me, we'll see how the expert responds... Don Rodriguez "Death and Taxes", or, in other words, "Freud and Marx". = "The only two certainties in life are Freud and Marx." Leland G February 17, 2011 @ 7:54pm The internets seem to attribute the following quote to Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." But I can't find ANY specific citation for it - not from Einstein's writings or a lecture/appearance, etc. It seems to have appeared out of thin air sometime in the late 90s. Any idea whence it comes? Joshua Northey February 17, 2011 @ 7:57pm What is with the strange fixation with written citations?

I realize that allows you to have a point of reference, which is nice, but isn't it clear from the historical record that a huge number of these famous quips were already circulating before pen was put to paper? JimFive February 17, 2011 @ 8:47pm Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once." -- Drew February 18, 2011 @ 12:07am Was "Statistics are like ladies of the night...Once laid out you can do anything with them." really Mark Twain? Eric M. Jones February 18, 2011 @ 12:55am @4- Leland G I'll bet Albert Einstein never said such a thing. Furthermore until the year 2000 (and beyond) Google Books says he never said it either. Marcus Bruté February 18, 2011 @ 1:26am How about "the _____ from Hell" (e.g. "the mother-in-law from Hell")? Was Richard Lewis really the first to use the expression?

John Torrey February 18, 2011 @ 4:34am A review of a movie or play: "When it wasn't putting me to sleep it was keeping me awake." CaÃ±ada Kid February 18, 2011 @ 7:12am "Home is where the heart is." I've not put much research into this one, but ever since you located my quote's origin (If at first you don't succeed...) I have been hearing this one bounce around, from books and novels to friends and family members. Thanks! Casey February 18, 2011 @ 1:38pm I agree with the quote "Nothing is certain except for death and taxes." Everyone one dies, but not everyone lives. No matter what, you will always have to pay taxes. There will never be a time where this won't occur. Eric M. Jones February 18, 2011 @ 2:00pm @11- CaÃ±ada Kid: "Home is where the heart is" seems to have arisen almost spontaneously in 1847.

But my guess is it could be found as latin engraved on some Roman doorway or such. It would be easy to believe that this kind of motto is a translation from Latin or Spanish or Yiddish. One also has to wonder about the hearth-heart similarity. Duncan Miller February 18, 2011 @ 4:56pm "Let's blow this popsicle stand" I had heard something about it pertaining to a Jamaican man in the 40s storing radioactive material in a popsicle stand that later exploded, though I have doubts about this source's credibility. rel February 18, 2011 @ 5:03pm I propose that we add "shipping & handling" to the list of life's inevitabilities in our modern age. Adams Volker "American Dream is the largest Ponzi scheme in human history" Gary Any idea who coined "He who swims against the current finds the source?" Emily February 21, 2011 @ 10:06pm Is this really Albert Einstein?

He supposedly was quoted in the NYT saying, "If I had my life to live over again, I would elect to be a trader of goods rather than a student of science. I think barter is a noble thing." G Wolf February 23, 2011 @ 5:43pm Who are Christopher Bullock and Edward Ward? I can't seem to find any info about either of them. Brian S In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. - Benjamin Franklin - BrainyQuote In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Find on Amazon: Benjamin Franklin Cite this Page: Citation 'Nothing is certain but death and taxes' - the meaning and origin of this phrase Famous Last Words Browse phrases beginning with: Nothing is certain but death and taxes Meaning A rather fatalistic and sardonic proverb. It draws on the actual inevitability of death to highlight the difficulty in avoiding the burden of taxes. Origin Several famous authors have uttered lines to this effect.

The first was Daniel Defoe, in The Political History of the Devil, 1726: "Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed." Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) used the form we are currently more familiar with, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789, which was re-printed in The Works of Benjamin Franklin, 1817: "'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Another thought on the theme of death and taxes is Margaret Mitchell's line from her book Gone With the Wind, 1936: "Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them." Benjamin Franklin Quotes BENJAMIN FRANKLIN QUOTES BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Advice to Young Tradesmen In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy, 13 Nov. 1789 Early to bed, and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac, 1735 Success has ruined many a man. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1752 Necessity never made a good bargain. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1735 Marry'd in haste, we oft repent at leisure. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, The Way to Wealth God helps them that helps themselves. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, The New England Courant, Jul. 9, 1722 Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac, July 1735 Trust thy self, and another shall not betray thee.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1739 Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac To lengthen thy life lessen thy meals. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac God heals and the doctor takes the fees. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1736 If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some; for he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac No nation was ever ruined by trade. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Thoughts on Commercial Subjects Whate'ers begun in anger ends in shame. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1734 He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac, preface, 1758 A countryman between 2 Lawyers, is like a fish between two cats. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1737 Little strokes fell great oaks. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac, Aug. 1750 Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1743 There never was a good war, or a bad peace. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, letter to Quincey, Sep. 11, 1783 Saying and Doing, have quarrel'd and parted.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1756 The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: 1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action ... 2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: - the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations; ... 3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, "The Morals of Chess" Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN History of the Death and Taxes Quote by Benjamin Franklin History of the Death and Taxes Quote by Benjamin Franklin Tweet When tax time is looming, Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote about death and taxes is often mentioned. His “Nothing is certain except death and taxes” quote is one of the most enduring quotations from the inventor, politician, writer and founding father. However, few people really understand why the words were uttered and under what circumstances. The French Letter The quote, as it happens, was not uttered in English. It was written by Franklin in French in November of 1789, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, a French scientist. Franklin, fluent in French, had once been the U.S. Ambassador to France. The letter he wrote to Leroy discussed the French Revolution and wished France, and its king, well. He also described the constitution that had recently been accepted and his hopes for its durability. However, he knew that little in the world was truly durable. Out of this came his quote about death and taxes, telling the scientist that these two things are all that really could be counted on with any certainty.

The constitution had been drafted in 1776, and in 1787 it was put in practice by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The fledgling young government was a great hope to the founding fathers, but its future was still highly uncertain. After two years, Franklin was still worried about it standing the test of time. Why a French Scientist? Most of Franklin’s best-known quotes came from his domestic writings, including Poor Richard’s Almanac and assorted essays published in newspapers. His letter to a foreign scientist about his hopes and fears about the new constitution may seem unlikely, but they are actually very much in line with Franklin’s life’s work. As the U.S. Ambassador to France for nine years, he became a celebrity in the country. He was well known throughout France and much of the rest of Europe, and he used that celebrity to drum up support for the revolutionary cause back home. However, even before his term as ambassador, he was already known in the scientific community of France. To see why, think back to the image of Franklin flying his kite in the lightning storm. This electricity experiment, as well as others he conducted, had allowed him to be held in high esteem among French scientists.

Though Franklin knew nothing of it, Franklin’s kite experiment was conducted about a month after a similar experiment had been conducted in France. With Franklin and French scientists having much the same interests in electricity, Franklin continued to be held in high esteem 24 years later when he became ambassador to France in 1776. It was in this atmosphere of goodwill as well as the increasingly serious situation in France that spurred Franklin to write his letter. The French Revolution Franklin and Leroy had been corresponding for many years, but at the time he wrote his famous letter, Franklin had not heard from his friend in more than a year. He feared that Leroy had been killed in the frenzy of executions that had swept France. The letter opened by asking Leroy, “Are you still living?” In the end, it was Franklin who was not to live much longer. He died five months after writing the letter, at the age of 83. Tax Quotes & Sayings (Taxes, Income Tax, Taxation, Tax Day, Sales Tax, etc) If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep.

~Will Rogers When there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation. ~Vanya Cohen Taxation with representation ain't so hot either. ~Gerald Barzan The taxpayer — that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. ~Ronald Reagan America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. ~Laurence J. Peter I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money. ~Arthur Godfrey The United States has a system of taxation by confession. ~Hugo Black Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents? ~Peg Bracken The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don't know when it's through if you are a crook or a martyr. ~Will Rogers Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. ~H.L.

Mencken The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose. ~William Simon We must care for each other more, and tax each other less. ~Bill Archer The expenses of government, having for their object the interest of all, should be borne by everyone, and the more a man enjoys the advantages of society, the more he ought to hold himself honored in contributing to those expenses. ~Anne Robert Jacques Turgot Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ~Robert Heinlein The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to get the most feathers with the least hissing. ~Jean Baptist Colbert, attributed What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. ~Thomas Paine Did you ever notice that when you put the words "The" and "IRS" together, it spells "THEIRS?" ~Author Unknown Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed. ~Daniel Defoe, The Political History of the Devil, 1726 Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.

~Benjamin Franklin, letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789 November 13th Another difference between death and taxes is that you don't have to work like fury to pay for the dying you did last year. ~Robert Quillen, "Oh, By the Way!" Gazette-Telegraph (Colorado), 1921 April 15th Another difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time the legislature meets. ~Robert Quillen, "Paragraphs," Lincoln Star (Nebraska), 1931 April 6th Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today. ~Herman Wouk Capital punishment: The income tax. ~Jeff Hayes If the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, how he must hate the taxpayer! ~John Andrew Holmes Of course the truth is that the congresspersons are too busy raising campaign money to read the laws they pass. The laws are written by staff tax nerds who can put pretty much any wording they want in there. I bet that if you actually read the entire vastness of the U.S.

Tax Code, you'd find at least one sex scene ("'Yes, yes, YES!' moaned Vanessa as Lance, his taut body moist with moisture, again and again depreciated her adjusted gross rate of annualized fiscal debenture"). ~Dave Barry People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women. ~Author Unknown Tea, coffee, spirits, laces, silks, and spice, And sundry drugs that bear a noble price, Are bought for little, but, ere sold, the things Are deeply charged for duty of the king's. ~George Crabbe (1754–1832), "Barnaby, the Shopman" Taxes: Of life's two certainties, the only one for which you can get an automatic extension. ~Author Unknown Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes, the wind will presently disappear, the taxes last us all the year. ~Ogden Nash It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta.

~Dave Barry Man is not like other animals in the ways that are really significant: animals have instincts, we have taxes. ~Erving Goffman The purse of the people is the real seat of sensibility. Let it be drawn upon largely, and they will then listen to truths which could not excite them through any other organ. ~Thomas Jefferson To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury. ~Benjamin Tucker, Instead of a Book Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income. ~Alfred E. Neuman A person doesn't know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it. ~Author Unknown Taxes are paid in the sweat of every man who labors. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed. ~Nancie J. Carmody Dear IRS, I am writing to you to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list. ~Charles M. Schulz (Snoopy) The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away.

~John S. Coleman, address, Detroit Chamber of Commerce, 1956 Philosophy teaches a man that he can't take it with him; taxes teach him he can't leave it behind either. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966 It was as true... as taxes is. And nothing's truer than them. ~Charles Dickens Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they shouldn't be related. ~J.C. Watts, Jr. The best things in life are free, but sooner or later the government will find a way to tax them. ~Author Unknown The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. ~Ronald Reagan I shall never use profanity except in discussing house rent and taxes. ~Mark Twain Our tax code is so long it makes War and Peace seem breezy. ~Steven LaTourette The wages of sin are death, but after they take the taxes out, it's more like a tired feeling, really. ~Paula Poundstone Rightful taxation is the price of social order.

In other words, it is that portion of the citizen's property which he yields up to the government in order to provide for the protection of all the rest. It is not to be wantonly levied on the citizen, nor levied at all except in return for benefits conferred. ~Journal of the Senate of the State of Ohio: Being the First Session of the Forty-Sixth General Assembly, held in the city of Columbus, commencing on December 6, 1847, Vol. XLVI, reported by Mr. Archbold Taxation is the price which we pay for civilization.... ~Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Vermont, October Session, 1851 (Report of the Committee Appointed by the Governor to Take into Consideration the Financial Affairs of the State) Taxation is the price which civilized communities pay for the opportunity of remaining civilized. ~Albert Bushnell Hart, Actual Government, 1903 I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization.

~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., quoted by Felix Frankfurter, The Atlantic Monthly, October 1938 (Thanks, Garson O'Toole of quoteinvestigator.com !) We are told that this is an odious and unpopular tax. I never knew a tax that was not odious and unpopular with the people who paid it. ~John Sherman You must pay taxes. But there's no law that says you gotta leave a tip. ~Morgan Stanley advertisement This is a question too difficult for a mathematician. It should be asked of a philosopher. ~Albert Einstein, about filling out his income tax form, 1944 Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. ~Will Rogers U.S. Internal Revenue Service: an agency modeled after the revenue raising concepts of the 19th century economist, Jesse James. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude.

Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute. ~Thomas Paine Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund. ~F.J. Raymond There's nothing wrong with the younger generation that becoming taxpayers won't cure. ~Dan Bennett Pothinus: "Is it possible that Caesar, the conqueror of the world, has time to occupy himself with such a trifle as our taxes?" Caesar: "My friend, taxes are the chief business of a conqueror of the world." ~George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" There may be liberty and justice for all, but there are tax breaks only for some. ~Martin A. Sullivan The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. ~Barry Goldwater Taxes grow without rain. ~Jewish Proverb When it comes to reasoning with the IRS, there's no way, shape or form — and you wouldn't understand the form, anyway. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com I don't know if I can live on my income or not — the government won't let me try it.

~Bob Thaves, "Frank & Ernest" Of all debts, men are least willing to pay their taxes; what a satire this is on government. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Friends and neighbors complain that taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might the more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly. ~Benjamin Franklin Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Question: " I understand that Congress is considering a so-called 'flat' tax system.

How would this work?" Answer: "If Congress were to pass a 'flat' tax, you'd simply pay a fixed percentage of your income, and you wouldn't have to fill out any complicated forms, and there would be no loopholes for politically connected groups, and normal people would actually understand the tax laws, and giant talking broccoli stalks would come around and mow your lawn for free, because Congress is NOT going to pass a flat tax, you pathetic fool." ~Dave Barry The flat tax would be so simple, you could fill it out on a post card. A post card that would say, in effect, having a wonderful time; glad most of my money is here. ~Steve Forbes A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right. Author Unknown Count the day won when, turning on its axis, This earth imposes no additional taxes. ~Franklin P. Adams Taxation, for example, is eternally lively; it concerns nine-tenths of us more directly than either smallpox or golf, and has just as much drama in it; moreover, it has been mellowed and made gay by as many gaudy, preposterous theories. ~H.L.

Mencken Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery. ~Calvin Coolidge It's about ten times the size of the Bible — and unlike the Bible, contains no good news. ~Don Nickles, about the Internal Revenue Code The payment of taxes gives a right to protection. ~James M. Wayne If we don't do something to simplify the tax system, we're going to end up with a national police force of internal revenue agents. ~Leon Panetta What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin. ~Mark Twain, Notebook, 1902 The sales tax seems to be more politically acceptable than the income tax. ~Raymond C. Scheppach There is an ancient belief that the gods love the obscure and hate the obvious. Without benefit of divinity, modern men of similar persuasion draft provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 341 is their triumph. ~Martin D. Ginsburg All the Congress, all the accountants and tax lawyers, all the judges, and a convention of wizards all cannot tell for sure what the income tax law says. ~Walter B.

Wriston The politicians say "we" can't afford a tax cut. Maybe we can't afford the politicians. ~Steve Forbes IRS: an agency modeled after the revenue-raising concepts of the 19th-century economist, Jesse James. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com Abracadabra, thus we learn The more you create, the less you earn. The less you earn, the more you're given, The less you lead, the more you're driven, The more destroyed, the more they feed, The more you pay, the more they need, The more you earn, the less you keep, And now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to take, If the tax-collector hasn't got it before I wake. ~Ogden Nash (1902–1971) Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a refund from the IRS, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with. ~Author unknown, from a Washington Post word contest You don't pay taxes — they take taxes.

~Chris Rock, Bigger and Blacker People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income. ~Robert Half Tax complexity itself is a kind of tax. ~Max Baucus He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation... For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.... We, therefore... solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States. ~The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, 1776 I can give you 1040 good ways we can improve our government.

~Terri Guillemets, "Forms of adulthood," 1989 Page Information: Original post date 1998 March 18th Last modified 2016 Apr 09 Sat 18:52 PDT Death & Taxes: All We Can Do Is Prepare by Dictionary.com Death and taxes In a 1789 letter to the scientist Jean-Baptiste Leroy, Benjamin Franklin wrote: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Now as April 15th (Tax Day) approaches, we are yet again reminded that the great patriot was right. Today we look into the language of both these inevitabilities, and though the thought may seem morbid, fear not: your income taxes are but another undiscovered country. IRS IRS stands for "Internal Revenue Service," the bureau of the Department of the United States Treasury responsible for collecting taxes. Satirized as being able to "squeeze blood from a rock," the IRS makes sure that every citizen is paying his or her civic dues.

The agency began during the Civil War when Congress, under the direction of President Abraham Lincoln, created the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to enact an income tax to cover war expenses. Though the name officially changed to IRS in 1953, the taxes are here to stay. Thanatopsis [than-uh-top-sis] If you're ruminating on life's harsh realities, perhaps it's time you join a long tradition of creative taxpayers and write a thanatopsis. From the Greek thantos meaning "death" and -opsis meaning "a view," a thanatopsis is a written contemplation of death, often composed in the form of a poem. The 17th century American poet William Cullen Bryant delineated the style with his poem Thanatopsis. It might be comforting to think that when the "Earth that nourish'd thee...claim[s] thy growth," thy tax dollars will have gone toward planting the tree thou fertilize'th. 1040 Form 1040 is the US Individual Tax Return, the primary form used by the IRS for personal federal income taxes.

The first Form 1040 was written in 1912, a time when the IRS (then known as the Bureau of Internal Revenue) had fewer than 50 employees. It is alleged that Nina Wilcox Putnam, a young accountant who went on to become a successful screenwriter, composed the form that generations of taxpayers would use yearly to determine their bill. The first complete form was not approved for use until its fortieth draft and was thus dubbed the 1040. Elysium [ih-lizh-ee-uhm, ih-lee-zhee-, ih-liz-, ih-lee-zee-, ih-lizh-uhm] In Greek mythology, Elysium (also known as "Elysian Fields") is the abode of the blessed in the afterlife. Often described as an island or series of islands at the edge of the earth, Elysium is home to heroes like Achilles and Aeneas, brave warriors descended from the gods.

But Elysium can also be a state of mind as Emily Dickinson describes: "Elysium is as far as to the very nearest room, if in that room a friend await felicity or doom." Perhaps the poet's friend was awaiting a tax return... Dependent [dih-pen-duhnt] A dependent in American English, or a dependant in British English, is a person who relies or "depends" on someone else as their primary source of income. This is most often a child, spouse, parent, or other relative. If you find yourself supporting a dependent, you can list them on your tax forms and claim a deduction or possibly an exemption. The word is derived from the Latin dependere meaning "to hang down," and although your dependents may hang on you financially, they can certainly lighten your taxes. Exemption [ig-zemp-shuhn] A tax exemption is a circumstance in which a citizen doesn't have to pay taxes at all, unlike a tax deduction which is removed from taxable income (the amount you earn on which the IRS can levy taxes).

Certain charitable organizations or individuals with a high number of dependents or extremely low incomes as well as veterans and clergymen can receive tax exemptions, and if you've ever bought anything from a duty free shop in an international airport, you've already enjoyed a small one. The word is derived from the Latin exemptus meaning "removed." Deduction [dih-duhk-shuhn] A tax deduction is an expense that is deducted or removed from taxable income (the amount of money you earn on which the IRS can levy taxes). If you've made a charitable donation, or had an important business lunch at a fancy restaurant, you can deduct those amounts from your taxable income. The word deduction is derived from the Latin stem deductio meaning "a leading away." Though no tax payer would ever dream of depriving his or her government of revenue, it can pay to research the deductions to which you're entitled. Perdition [per-dish-uhn] In Christian tradition, perdition is the state of final spiritual ruin, where the wicked are condemned to eternal damnation.

The term is derived from the Latin perdere meaning "to lose" or "to ruin," but because the first amendment to the US Constitution grants citizens separation of church and state, you can think of this next term as a kind of federal perdition. 130 Inspirational Quotes About Taxes | Inc.com 130 Inspirational Quotes About Taxes In this world, nothing is certain except death, taxes and "inspirational quote" posts on Inc.com CREDIT: Getty Images Advertisement Taxes got you feeling blue? Don't despair! Here are a slew of famous (and not so famous) quotes to make your tax season a bit less taxing. Enjoy!

Adam Smith: "Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things." Al Capone: "They can't collect legal taxes from illegal money." Albert Bushnell Hart: "Taxation is the price which civilized communities pay for the opportunity of remaining civilized." Albert Camus: Note, besides, that it is no more immoral to directly rob citizens than to slip indirect taxes into the price of goods that they cannot do without." Albert Einstein: "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." Alfred E. Neuman: "Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income." Andrew Cuomo: "New York State is upside down and backwards; high taxes and low performance." Anonymous: "A fine is a tax for doing something wrong.

A tax is a fine for doing something right." Anonymous: "A person doesn't know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it." Anonymous: "Of life's two certainties, the only one for which you can get an automatic extension." Anonymous: "People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women." Anonymous: "The best things in life are free, but sooner or later the government will find a way to tax them." Arthur C. Clarke: "The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale." Arthur Godfrey: "I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money." Arthur Vanderbilt: "Taxes are the lifeblood of government and no taxpayer should be permitted to escape the payment of his just share of the burden of contributing thereto." Austin O'Malley: "In levying taxes and in shearing sheep it is well to stop when you get down to the skin." Barack Obama: "We've got a tax code that is encouraging flight of jobs and outsourcing. And that's why we've specifically recommended ...

that Congress change our tax code so that we stop giving tax breaks to companies that are moving to Mexico and China and other places, and start putting those tax breaks into companies that are investing here in the United States." Barry Goldwater: "The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government." Bauvard: "Every culture has some ritual for joining two people together and making them stay that way, and ours is giving tax breaks." Benjamin Franklin: "Friends and neighbors complain that taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might the more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us.

We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly." Benjamin Franklin: "Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes." Benjamin Tucker: "To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury." Bill Archer: "We must care for each other more, and tax each other less." Bob Dole: "The purpose of a tax cut is to leave more money where it belongs: in the hands of the working men and working women who earned it in the first place." Bob Thaves: "I don't know if I can live on my income or not--the government won't let me try it." Bonnie Raitt: Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet--nobody taxes the sun yet." Boris I. Bittker: "The layman is far more inclined than the expert to trust paperwork as a shield against tax liability.

Tax lawyers are bombarded at cocktail parties with tax schemes, offered as proof positive of the speaker's astute sophistication, that would not convince the most inexperienced revenue agent or that teeter on the brink of fraud." Calvin Coolidge: "Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery." Chris Rock: "You don't pay taxes--they take taxes." Dan Bennett: "There's nothing wrong with the younger generation that becoming taxpayers won't cure." Dave Barry: "Congresspersons are too busy raising campaign money to read the laws they pass. The laws are written by staff tax nerds who can put pretty much any wording they want in there. I bet that if you actually read the entire vastness of the U.S. Tax Code, you'd find at least one sex scene." Dave Barry: "It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta." David Frum: "The big winners under the American fiscal system are the rich, who pay some of the lowest taxes anywhere in the world; the old, who are the main beneficiaries of the American social service state; farmers, rural people.

These are Republican constituencies." David Mazzucchelli: "Yes: here's to the founding fathers--slave-owning British citizens who didn't want to pay taxes..." Edmund Burke: "To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men." Erving Goffman: "Man is not like other animals in the ways that are really significant: animals have instincts, we have taxes." Evan Esar: "Some taxpayers close their eyes, some stop their ears, some shut their mouths, but all pay through the nose." F.J. Raymond: "Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund." Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Taxes are paid in the sweat of every man who labors." Franklin P. Adams: "Count the day won when, turning on its axis, this earth imposes no additional taxes." Franklin Roosevelt: "Taxation according to income is the most effective instrument yet devised to obtain just contribution from those best able to bear it and to avoid placing onerous burdens upon the mass of our people." Frederick the Great: "No government can exist without taxation.

This money must necessarily be levied on the people; and the grand art consists of levying so as not to oppress." George H.W. Bush: "Read my lips: no new taxes." George Sutherland: "The legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether to avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted." Gerald Barzan: "Taxation with representation ain't so hot either." Grover Cleveland: "When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of free government." H.L. Mencken: "Unquestionably, there is progress.

The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages." Ha-Joon Chang: "Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are--a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer, as we were told." Herman Wouk: "Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today." Holly Sklar: "Taxes are how we pool our money for public health and safety, infrastructure, research, and services--from the development of vaccines and the Internet to public schools and universities, transportation, courts, police, parks, and safe drinking water." Hugo Black: "The United States has a system of taxation by confession." J.C. Watts: "Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they shouldn't be related." Jack Canfield: "I have lived by one crucial principle since I was 24 years old. I don't blame or complain about things like the economy, the government, taxes, employees, gas prices, or any of the external things that I don't have control over. The only thing I have control over is my response to these things." James M.

Wayne: "The payment of taxes gives a right to protection." James Madison: "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." Jean Baptist Colbert: "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to get the most feathers with the least hissing." Jeff Foxworthy: "If your biggest tax deduction was bail money, you might be a redneck." John Andrew Holmes: "If the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, how he must hate the taxpayer!" John Marshall: "The power to tax is the power to destroy." John Maynard Keynes: "The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward." John S. Coleman: "What the government gives it must first take away." John Sherman: "We are told that this is an odious and unpopular tax.

I never knew a tax that was not odious and unpopular with the people who paid it." Joseph Bonkowski: "The best things in life are tax free." Joyce Marcel: "For patriots like me, paying taxes gives a feeling of responsibility, of being part of the fabric of our country, of contributing to the common good." Judith Martin: "The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes--naturally, no one wants to live any other way." Lao Tzu: "The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes." Laurence J. Peter: "America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation." Laurence J. Peter: "Few of us ever test our powers of deduction, except when filling out an income tax form." Leon Panetta: "If we don't do something to simplify the tax system, we're going to end up with a national police force of internal revenue agents." Leona Helmsley: "We don't pay taxes.

Only the little people pay taxes." Lord Bramwell: "Like mothers, taxes are often misunderstood, but seldom forgotten." Marco Rubio: "We don't need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system." Margaret Mitchell: "Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them." Mark Cuban: "While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes, I don't. I find it patriotic." Mark Twain: "I shall never use profanity except in discussing house rent and taxes." Mark Twain: "What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin." Martin A. Sullivan: "There may be liberty and justice for all, but there are tax breaks only for some." Martin D. Ginsburg: "There is an ancient belief that the gods love the obscure and hate the obvious. Without benefit of divinity, modern men of similar persuasion draft provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.

Section 341 is their triumph." Max Baucus: "Tax complexity itself is a kind of tax." Mignon McLaughlin: "Philosophy teaches a man that he can't take it with him; taxes teach him he can't leave it behind either." Milton Friedman: "Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay." Milton Friedman: "We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork." Morgan Stanley: "You must pay taxes. But there's no law that says you gotta leave a tip." Nancie J. Carmody: "I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed." Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Any tax is a discouragement and therefore a regulation so far as it goes." P. J. O'Rourke: In theory, taxes should be like shopping. What I buy is government services.

What I pay are my taxes.: Paul Leroy_Beaulieu: "Taxes are simply contributions demanded of citizens as their share of the expenses of government." Paula Poundstone: "The wages of sin are death, but after they take the taxes out, it's more like a tired feeling, really." Peg Bracken: "Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents?" Plato: "When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income." Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Of all debts, men are least willing to pay their taxes; what a satire this is on government." Randolph Paul: "Above all things, a tax attorney must be an indefatigable skeptic; he must discount everything he hears and reads. The market place abounds with unsound avoidance schemes which will not stand the test of objective analysis and litigation." Richard Carlson: "At tax time, it helps to remember that if your tax obligation has increased from the previous year, it's usually because you're enjoying more income. That's a situation to which most of us aspire.

Higher taxes are a price that we pay for greater success." Richard Carlson: "Many people believe that where taxes are concerned, they are victims, held hostage by an inevitable process that allows them no input, no control. This passive approach becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy; where people believe that they lack control, they seldom try to assert control." Rob Knauerhase: "Isn't it appropriate that the month of the tax begins with April Fool's Day and ends with cries of 'May Day!'?" Robert A. Heinlein: "There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him." Robert Brault: "The IRS is an agency modeled after the revenue raising concepts of the 19th century economist, Jesse James." Robert Half: "People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income." Robert Heinlein: "Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors...

and miss." Robert Quillen: "Another difference between death and taxes is that you don't have to work like fury to pay for the dying you did last year." Roger Jones: "I guess I think of lotteries as a tax on the mathematically challenged." Ron Paul: "One thing is clear: The Founding Fathers never intended a nation where citizens would pay nearly half of everything they earn to the government." Ron Paul: Income taxes are responsible for the transformation of the Federal government from one of limited powers into a vast leviathan whose tentacles reach into almost every aspect of American life." Ronald Reagan: "The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Ronald Reagan: "The taxpayer--that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination." Ronald Reagan: "You can't tax business. Business doesn't pay taxes. It collects taxes." Russell B. Long: "A tax loophole is something that benefits the other guy.

If it benefits you, it is tax reform." Snoopy: "Dear IRS, I am writing to you to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list." Stephen King: "The rope by which the great blocks of taxes are attached to any citizenry is simple loyalty--loyalty to King, to country, to government." Steve Forbes: "The flat tax would be so simple, you could fill it out on a post card. A post card that would say, in effect, having a wonderful time; glad most of my money is here." Steve Forbes: "The politicians say 'we' can't afford a tax cut. Maybe we can't afford the politicians." Steven LaTourette: "Our tax code is so long it makes War and Peace seem breezy." Terri Guillemets: "I can give you 1040 good reasons we should improve our government." Thomas Jefferson: "To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Paine: "Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation.

It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." Thomas Paine: "What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue." Thomas Paine: War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end; it has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes." Thomas Sowell: "Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders." Vanya Cohen: "When there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation." Walter B. Wriston: "All the Congress, all the accountants and tax lawyers, all the judges, and a convention of wizards all cannot tell for sure what the income tax law says." Warren Buffett: "If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further. But I think that people at the high end--people like myself--should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it." Will Rogers: "Alexander Hamilton started the U.S.

Treasury with nothing and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even." Will Rogers: "Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for." Will Rogers: "If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep." Will Rogers: "The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has." Will Rogers: "The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." William Cobbett: "Nothing is so well calculated to produce a death-like torpor in the country as an extended system of taxation and a great national debt." William Simon: "The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose." Winston Churchill: "There is no such thing as a good tax." Winston S. Churchill: "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." Like this column? Sign up to subscribe to email alerts and you'll never miss a post.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com. Published on: Apr 13, 2015 Advertisement

Question: Which American said "Nothing is certain except death and taxes"?
Answer: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN